Sasaki to Miyano

Yoshikazu Miyano's troubles first start one hot summer day when Shuumei Sasaki steps into his life. Sasaki saves Miyano's classmate from a group of bullies, and after that, Miyano cannot seem to shake off his eccentric upperclassman. His silent admiration for Sasaki gradually sours into annoyance each time the so-called delinquent refuses to leave him alone. Constantly being called by cute nicknames and having his boundaries ignored, Miyano wonders why Sasaki wants to get close to him.

The shy and easily flustered Miyano harbors an embarrassing secret—he is a "fudanshi," a boy who likes boys' love (BL) manga. The last thing he wants is for other students to find out, but through a slip of the tongue, he reveals the truth to Sasaki. Intrigued, the clueless Sasaki asks to borrow a book to read, which he is given very reluctantly. To Miyano's surprise, Sasaki enjoys the BL that he receives and asks for more, marking a shift in their strange dynamic.

Although Sasaki appears to possess some personal agenda, his feelings for Miyano become complicated the more time they spend together. As they now share a common interest, their relationship is poised to change and further develop.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sasaki, Shuumei Main

Shirai, Yuusuke Japanese

Miyano, Yoshikazu Main

Saitou, Souma Japanese

Hirano, Taiga Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Kagiura, Akira Supporting

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Hanzawa, Masato Supporting

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Tashiro, Gonzaburou Supporting

Ichiki, Mitsuhiro Japanese

Kuresawa, Tasuku Supporting

Arai, Ryouhei Japanese

Ogasawara, Jirou Supporting

Ono, Yuuki Japanese

Sasaki, Satoko Supporting

Kamakura, Yuna Japanese

Shirahama, Kyouji Supporting

Nakashima, Takuya Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Ogata, Mitsuhiro Producer

Ogura, Rie Producer

Reviews

Oct 21, 2024

Curlybrace101

Recommended

Sasaki and Miyano is a romance anime based on the concept of falling in love with a guy over the gay porn he lends you, which is just an inherently funny premise.

I was hesitant at first, when I found out the characters in Sasaki and Miyano were active fans of BL. This is because BL is a genre with a fraught and controversial history, so I was fully prepared for it to be full of unfunny jokes about uncomfortable tropes. Thankfully, I was wrong!

Sasaki and Miyano uses its self-aware nature to its advantage. Some might criticize it for affectionately joking about and including BL as ... a major part of the plot in a way that is almost entirely uncritical (as, like I said before, it is a genre rife with controversy and tropes worthy of criticism), but I disagree. I think most people would agree it's okay to like a genre that is often done in poor taste, and I don't think affectionately joking about and including that genre without criticizing certain tropes it is inherently agreeing with the more controversial side of it.

I mean, it's a lighthearted school romcom. What do you expect it to do? Pause the story to say "by the way, what did you think of the rape scene in the last volume I lent you? I know that BL tends to include tactless depictions of rape, oftentimes done by the love interest in a way that is supposed to be romantic, so I wanted to know your opinion. Personally, I just can't stand for when BL includes rape scenes like that" or something?

Furthermore, I don't even think it *was* entirely uncritical. Primarily, it makes BL jokes that are not, in fact, based around the uncomfortable side of BL, yet at the same time doesn't completely ignore it. At one point, it takes a short time to recognize that certain tropes are not okay in real life, which is surprisingly mature and refreshing from a lighthearted school romcom. And I think that that's proof enough that the author is well aware of the seedy side of BL, and you shouldn't assume they aren't just because their lighthearted story doesn't pause itself for serious literary criticism.

My point is, Sasaki and Miyano stands out from a lot of other BL due to its self-awareness of its own genre, and it does it in a way that's funny and charming, and it hikes my enjoyment way up. Honestly, it was probably the main reason I enjoyed the show so much.

Though, the real driving force of the show is obviously the romance, which, to be honest, I probably should have opened with, but what can I say? I'm a literature student.

Anyways, Sasaki and Miyano (the characters, not the title of the show) have a dynamic that kind of seems like it was written for the Tumblr crowd, but that's not a bad thing. It's the insecure nerd x oblivious himbo dynamic, which is a real crowdpleaser, but it is for a reason. Their opposites dynamic is cute and charming, and it's incredibly heartwarming and refreshing to see Sasaki so earnestly interested in Miyano's hobby, which is often considered niche, weird, and socially unacceptable. They're very different people, yet there is no judgment between them. It's so earnest and empathetic.

And the development of their relationship was...God, how many times can I use the word refreshing? They fell fast but took things slow. Sasaki resolved to wait for Miyano for however long he needed to figure out his feelings. I found it to be very grounded. There's just so much care packed into their relationship that I feel a lot of us could take to heart and apply to real life.

Everything about their relationship is just so...*kind.* It's incredibly kind.

Now, it's certainly not peak writing or anything. The plot is inherently dumb and it doesn't take itself seriously at all. I may have opened by praising the literary merit of it, but it's not high art. But that's okay. It doesn't have to be. And it wasn't trying to be.

It still falls into some tired romance tropes (like miscommunication or the whole "how can I like boys?????" thing) but I can kind of excuse them on the grounds that these characters are like, 16. Pretty accurate for teenagers in all honesty, even if I'm tired of seeing it.

TLDR: Incredibly cute and heartwarming with some literary merit buried underneath it due to how well it utilizes self awareness of the BL genre.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 6, 2024

ThatFlowerGirl

Mixed Feelings

It's been a while since I had a review for something, and I had the urge to write one, especially for this particular BL anime.. my first-ever review had to be on a BL anime.. lol. Well I don't mind since I'm a fujoshi, but having the chance to read and own almost all the latest volumes of the manga of this anime, I felt like I needed to say something.

First of all, some mangas are better left as mangas than animations. That's what I've been thinking the whole time I've been watching this adaptation midway through. I'm not gonna drag this out longer but ... I need to point out how Miyano's "Fudanshi Blabber" is so awkward and cringe when displayed with a voice, whereas in the manga it wasn't like that. Japan's way of making an excited person shout when excited about something is getting dull now, ESPECIALLY when Miyano doesn't want to be found out for liking BL manga. I always imagined him blabbering to Sasaki at the manga to be more conversed at less louder but I guess Japan's anime standard for excitement is different than mine. Also his voice makes him really feminine too, when he doesn't want to be feminine I always imagined his voice to be more boyish?? Or even forced boyish like voice but not too boyish? I dont know I just hate his VA (BUT sasaki's and others side charac I like)

Another thing to point out is the character designs, I like Sasaki but HATE Miyano's design, having those 3 dots on his eyes is so off as I liked Miyano's more natural look at the manga. People who haven't read the manga may like this but I DONT. Also the animation, can I say.. STOP WITH THE KIMI NI TODOKE BUBBLES FOR JUST A MINUTE WTF!?!?!? Every "emotional" scene there are randomly some shapes floating around. It just feels so... forced? Like "OoOoOh look at this!!!! bubbles omg so romantic hehehehiihihi" BRUH? I don't know man. Also the gradient eyes is very lateish anime style. I like Sasaki's and others but Miyanos... its just so... ugly? I don't know they just destroyed Miyano's charm for me.

The pacing of this anime is also pretty bad. I dont know.. the manga feels more natural whereas this adaptation felt weird to me. maybe because my standards were too high but I dont know.. I also skipped out some dialogues at episodes 7-11. It felt so redundant with all the fillers. I'm just so disappointed. But as for the OST, Its the only redeeming factor. I like the constant use of that one OST when Miyano and Sasaki were together. It's very catchy. and the OP is pretty good (although I hate some parts of the animation in that OP). Actually I hate many animated parts in the span of the 12 episodes I've watched (most of them, no, ALL OF THEM includes Miyano)

When I heard this manga was receiving an adaptation I was just so excited because It was the first time I've read the manga first before watching the anime. (I first watched this on 2022, but put it as on hold at episode 4, then tried to watch it now.. 2 years ago..) I dont know man, I just expected something better. Go watch this if u want but I'm just... disappointed with how things turned out. If you're REALLY THIRSTY for some BL please read the manga, its bazillion better. But eehhh whatever Kimi ni Todoke S3 will be out in the next months and Im pumped for that. So yeah that's it.
TLDR: hate Miyano here, like Sasaki, but manga still wins as always.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Apr 6, 2022

Mitsumi_

Not Recommended

I don't think I've ever been more happy to finish a show in my life, and not in the kind of way where you're excited for the ending. This show is the kind of show that starts out promising but over time you slowly realise quite how bad it is, and from about the half-way point every minute I spent watching it made me want to fall asleep, cry, or do literally anything else. Why didn't I drop it? Well, is there much point dropping a 12 episode show when you're already half way through it? But thinking about it, it takes over 2 hours ... to watch 6 episodes and I'm never getting those 2 hours of my life back, so maybe I should've dropped it after all.

This is a 12 episode long will-they-won't-they story with characters so either bland or dislikeable that you hope their relationship fails. It's also really weird about gay men, embracing the tropes that outright fetishize them (with basically every character, even ones you hardly see on screen, being a fujoshi/fudanshi, whatever the differences between the two are). You know what, if that's your thing then you'll probably enjoy this show, but personally it made me feel... well, icky, I guess. That's one of my main gripes with the show; watching it made me feel gross.

That's about all I have to say on this show to be honest. The art style was ok, I guess. It was at least pleasant to look at while I suffered. Again, if you're into fujoshi/fudanshi culture or whatever, you'll probably enjoy it. I, personally, didn't.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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	Poll: Sasaki to Miyano Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Gardevoir101 - Jan 9, 2022	160 replies	by kb_juliane »» Nov 19, 12:55 PM
	Poll: Sasaki to Miyano Episode 6 Discussion ( 1 2 ) KANLen09 - Feb 13, 2022	63 replies	by T-PainBeDamned »» Oct 25, 6:40 AM
	Poll: Sasaki to Miyano Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) KANLen09 - Mar 27, 2022	135 replies	by Chiru_u »» Jul 19, 10:44 AM
	Poll: Sasaki to Miyano Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 ) KANLen09 - Mar 20, 2022	59 replies	by CuteMuffins5 »» Jul 7, 11:39 PM
	Poll: Sasaki to Miyano Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Gardevoir101 - Mar 13, 2022	50 replies	by CuteMuffins5 »» Jul 7, 10:41 PM